Accepted Part III

...So we call the bookstore to see if they can help us.  We explain that our daughter's dream is to meet Geddy Lee, & we bought the book & are planning on being at the signing of course, BUT we also told them about the winter concert and then we did something we NEVER do.  We pulled the "special needs" card.  The truth is Emily does have ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) & she would be more impatient than other children waiting in that long line to meet Geddy and be uncomfortable with the crowd noise but we would normally just have her deal with it.  BUT we were desperate, Emily would fail her class IF she wasn't one of the first in line so we explained that our daughter has ASD & the bookstore without hesitation said NO PROBLEM.  We will do our very best to get her in as soon as we can, & we will have chairs in the store for the kids/people with special needs just show your receipt for the book & come into the store, and explain that you talked to me when you get here.  OK Great!  Kudos to BookEnds in Ridgewood NJ! Class Act business. We still would have to have the timing perfect but this would give us a small window.  The truth is we would have to be one of the very first in line, hit no traffic, find the place (we'd never been before) find parking, etc all without anything else unexpected happening & still have to break the law speeding home or else this wasn't going to happen like we'd want.  Either way,  Emily's dream of meeting Geddy Lee would happen BUT she'd also miss her concert & fail her class.  So the idea of a NON-STRESSED meeting of Geddy Lee wasn't going to happen.  This would be high stress BUT in our minds still TOTALLY WORTH IT!  OK... That just left many days of worrisome wondering if we could really pull this off? So when Dec 18th rolled around, we were all full of excitement mixed with a little nervousness too.  As much as we believe the more important in the grand scheme of things was fulfilling a life long dream of Emily's to meet Geddy Lee, it was kind of a big deal for her not to fail her class.  You see she had just been accepted into the NHS, after missing it last year so it would not have been cool if the first marking period she was already suspended for not achieving the necessary academic requirements.  SO as much as meeting Geddy was EPIC, her grades are SUPER important as well, anyway...... We got up & decided we would pick Emily up from school at like 1:30 or so and head down a little early just in case we could meet him a little early.  We drive down, it takes around 2 hours.  After exactly 2 hours we are in Ridgewood and we start looking for parking & realize that a grocery store parking lot is just a few short streets away, we decide to park there. Emily has to change clothes in the car.  Our incredibly small Mini-Cooper, since we left from her school we didn't have time to do it beforehand.  I'm the lookout & am holding up something to cover the window up this way no one sees her.  Emily looks cute, wearing a shiny sparkly short black dress (She has to wear Black & white formal clothes to the winter concert) on the bottom & a RUSH T-shirt on the top.   So I like to say she was rocker on top & fancy on the bottom.  Brian goes in and buys Paper towels so we aren't just using the grocery store & were actually customers.  He buys a big pack of paper towels.  I guess forgetting how small the car is...lol. We haven't had it that long. ( That goes back to the post "Accepted Part I, and our bad luck but sorry I got off track) Back to the story at hand...  Em's pretty tiny so it's ok.  The tiny backseat can hold her & the paper towels but just barely.  We start walking the couple of blocks to the bookstore & see all these people, two ladies ask us if we are going to see Geddy, we share that our daughter is a HUGE RUSH fan, & it's her, who's actually meeting him.   They think it's cool.  It really is, in all fairness to my husband he is a huge RUSH fan as well, but Emily has even surpassed him in her LOVE of them.  I'm a fan now too, but that's mostly because of Emily.  They are so good, I just wasn't into them growing up, I listened to what my mom did COUNTRY & what was popular on MTV-being an 80s girl. A part of me likes that my cool daughter got me into them.  lol  While walking we also notice how LLLLLOOOONNNNNNGGGG the line is of people waiting, oh shit & here we are thinking we did good coming so early.  Ummm... we apparently weren't the only ones with that idea,  As it turns out Brian & I were both thinking the same thing, I hope they remembered telling us Emily could be one of the first in line. PLEASE.  We get into the bookstore, show them our E-Receipt from Brian's phone. & get the book.  We remind them that we had called, told them the story again & they said.. "oh Okay... you can sit on one of the plastic chairs that are lined up around the walls of the store." Brian & Em go sit down.  The email from the bookstore mentioned something about the fact that only people that BOUGHT books could be in the bookstore, I'm praying they don't ask me to leave.  At this point I just am trying to stay out of the way & wish there was a way to blend into the walls so that I can stay and see Emily fulfill her wish & her bday present.  I have my phone ready & so badly want to take a pic!!! SO it's only about 3:30-3:45 at this point & I decide to go get a cup of coffee, there's a Starbucks nearby.   It was a pretty cold day so I get Emily a hot chocolate too. Like I said, I don't want them kicking me out of the bookstore & am trying to not be in the way so it was an excuse to escape that feeling for a few minutes.  I get back & drink my coffee in the cold outside & feel incredibly bad & guilty for all the people in the snake like line that fills what seems at the time to fill an entire parking lot next to the strip mall that the bookstore is part of, The line is so massive.  I wish we'd had taken a pic but we didn't have time to do it.  Brian is sitting next to Emily in the store & I'm kinda just standing around hoping it all goes well.  At exactly 5 pm, we hear someone say something like he's in the building.  The main part of the signing I think will be downstairs but the people who are to meet him first are in the main part of the store.  Then he comes out, he's sitting down & next to him is a security officer, and next to him is I think the owner/manager of the bookstore.  I'm not sure if Geddy was just overwhelmed because it was the beginning of it, and he didn't know what to expect or if he was just grumpy but the bookstore had the event run like a well oiled machine & there were about 5 people in line before Emily.  I'm watching, Geddy isn't inter-acting alot with the people.  They are just going up there & he's signing their books. Not shaking hands, not really talking, maybe a hello.  I'm getting nervous.  We warned Emily in the car that he wouldn't have a whole lot of time, & if she wanted to say anything to him to do it quick, & Emily had been practicing the entire ride down what she was going to say.  You see not only is Emily OBSESSED with their music but she is into musicals & also is an aspiring writer herself.  She has written a musical w/ RUSH's Music in it.  She wanted to share all of that with him,  it wasn't looking like that would be the case so none of us had a clue how this would go.   As Emily approaches Geddy, she has the most enormous SMILE on her face, she's giddy with EXCITEMENT over meeting GEDDY.  Sooooo by the time it's her turn she says in the fastest way possible something like... "I'M A HUGE FAN, I KNOW LIKE 25 SONGS OF YOURS BY HEART. I LOVE RUSH, IVE WRITTEN A MUSICAL WITH YOUR MUSIC IM SO EXCITED TO MEET YOU!!!!!" The whole time she has her hand out to shake his. THEN.... IT HAPPENS... HE MELTS... a huge smile comes across his face & he SHOOK her hand!  The entire interaction lasted maybe 30 seconds BUT she was SOOOOO HAPPY!!! For my part I'm trying my hardest to take it all in, I managed to sneak my way up & I got to see the whole thing,  I'm just taking shots with my phone & hoping for the best.  I felt like I was shaking and doubted that I even got one shot BUT still.... Anyway, when Emily turns around toward me I just break down, I'm kind of sensitive in general but it's not every day you get to see your daughter fulfill a dream come true, so I have a tears running down my face.  Em smiles at me, she is always telling me I cry over everything & it's true, but in some weird way I think she likes it too.  So she says something like, "You're crying?" & I'm like yeah HAPPY TEARS! She smiles at me.  Brian is smiling too. It was really fast but we are happy that it went so well, that it's so far working out...